Chicago City Wire

Cook County Board president Republican candidate Bob Fioretti is calling out Democratic lawmakers over the latest indictment of a member of the majority party after state Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago) was charged with accepting a bribe. 

Jones allegedly accepted $5,000 from a firm operating a red light camera system. 

"Red-light cameras are a plague on our communities, and a license to steal from our communities!” Fioretti said in a press release. “They are a hidden tax on Cook County residents created by shady, backroom deals and corruption by our so-called 'public servants.' A billion dollars in 'fines' and a plethora of indictments prove this!"  

Fioretti said that Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois "already have an infamous reputation for corruption, crime, and gross incompetence by government officials." 

"Why would we continue to allow this pay-to-play, cronyism, and political-grifting to continue?” he argued. "If we're going to utilize these awful devices, we must adopt a system like Virginia and invest in our crumbling infrastructure. We need to put these resources to work and use it as investment as opposed to just another tax or penalty on residents. Ultimately, it is politically connected insiders who profit and corrupt public officials who skim off of those profits.” 

Fioretti said that Toni Preckwinkle, the 35th president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners,  "leads a corrupt Democratic party." 

Fioretti, who is an attorney at Roth Fioretti LLC where he practices complex law, has served two terms as alderman in Chicago’s 2nd Ward. He switched parties to run as a Republican.

"How many more indictments must be reported, and illegal schemes uncovered before ‘leaders’ like Toni Preckwinkle act and put an end to the nonstop corruption?" Fioretti said. "Cook County deserves far better than these constant failures.”

The Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney's Office disclosed the allegations on Tuesday. Jones is accused of accepting a $5,000 bribe to change a measure that would have done further research on red light cameras. According to the indictment, “Company A was a Chicago-area company that provided automated traffic enforcement systems, commonly known as red-light cameras, which enabled municipalities to enforce certain traffic violations and issue traffic­ violation tickets. Company A did not provide any automated traffic enforcement systems to the City of Chicago. Individual A had an ownership interest in Company A. Unbeknownst to JONES, Individual A was cooperating with law enforcement.”  

Jones "corruptly solicited" the cash, according to the filing. and that “In or around 20L9, JONES agreed that, in exchange for benefits provided by Individual A to JONES and Individual B, JONES would oppose legislation that required the study of automated traffic enforcement systems located outside of Chicago, and would limit any legislation regarding IDOT's study of and recommendations concerning automated traffic law enforcement systems to those automated traffic enforcement systems utilized in Chicago, thereby excluding from study and recommendations automated traffic enforcement systems utilized in numerous other municipalities that Company A served,” the indictment reads, Chicago City Wire previously reported.

In June, Jones decried the criminal justice system. He is the sponsor of the SAFE-T Act which is opposed by 100 of the state’s 102 state’s attorneys, saying that “No one should be serving time for a crime they did not commit.” Jones also noted that “The criminal justice system at times proves to have no justice at all, especially for Black and Brown folks."

Fioretti is a former senior supervising attorney of the General Litigation Division for the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago. His law firm's website noted that "While there, he was involved in more than 500 civil rights cases, and his personal trial experiences have led to more than 100 state and federal verdicts and appellate court decisions. He represented the family of Baby Tamia in the high-profile adoption case that led to changes in Illinois adoption law.” 

His law firm's website also said that Fioretti "has been appointed in numerous cases as a Special Assistant Attorney General of Illinois and a Special Assistant State’s Attorney. Bob is a first-generation American and was born and raised in the Pullman/Roseland neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. He received a Pullman Foundation scholarship to attend the University of Illinois where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and served as Student Body President. He earned his law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law. He is Past President of both the NIU National Alumni Association and NIU College of Law Alumni Council.  He remains a member of the adjunct faculty. Bob is deeply involved in the Chicago community, where he serves on various boards and lectures extensively.”